In this brief, we are asked to develop an informational graphic that is to illustrate a process visually. The topic we pick must answer the question “How-to” and “How does it work?” by using illustrations, iconography, typography, color and related design elements. I’ve come up with some ideas for this brief such as:

– How a lava lamp works

– How a clock works

– How a television works

– How to grow tomatoes

– How to decorate cupcakes

– How to decorate a Christmas tree

I have a feelings that there are so many interesting topics out there that I could use for my brief but at this point, I can only think of these topics. I’ve never used Adobe Illustrator before and am quite nervous but I’ll try to watch some tutorial videos as well as look for materials to read so hopefully I’ll be doing ok with this one. Fingers crossed!

Through my second image, I wanted to deliver the message about modern women’s obsession with beauty. Beauty has always been one of the society’s biggest obsessions and in today’s media-saturated world where we are bombarded by images of what we should look like and what we fail to look like, it is worse than ever. I decided to depict the issue through a woman’s meal, which is represented with the kitchenware like dishes, spoon, and fork. The image of a sad-looking girl is placed in the place, which represents the idea that women see their meals as a reflection of their beauty. The less they eat, the more beautiful they become. That’s why there’s no food on the table but cosmetic, lipstick, lip-gloss, etc. The making of this image is very easy and simple. I used some Photoshop tools to cut out the objects from photos I taken then put them together.

For the first image, I was required to construct an image that summarizes a movie or one of its main concepts visually. The movie I chose was “Her” (2013) and one of its main theme is the relationship between human and technology in the modern life as well as our need for intimacy and our yearning for romance and emotional connection with others. The story is about a guy who falls in love with an operating system, or simply with the voice in his phone. The movie is also about love and provides an insight into relationships in the digital, distracted age. The couple standing next to each other holding hands represents an intimate romantic relationship. Because the female is not an actual living person but an operating system, she is portrayed only with the body shape or identifying features. Her image is covered with binary code only. In the movie, the woman doesn’t have a body and everything audiences know about her is her voice only. However, as their love and desires grow, she desperately wants a body. That’s why in my image; I portray her with a body shape but not a face. The hand holding means more than just a physical touch. It means that even though they’re not in the same world, their love is real and their genuine feelings exist. The background with the streets and buildings represents the world they live in the slight future. Basically, I used Photoshop to merge the photo of Civic Theater and the photo of me and my friend then used some filters and especially the binary code to fill up the female’s figure. I had to make the light a little less bright and I used the glowing effects to emphasize the couple and make them stand out of the background. The dim background also represents a dreamy world where people fall in love. I also had to remove the text and the poster on the building behind as there’s no text allowed to appear in the image.